When I started playing football, I really had no aspiration of playing it properly or even professionally at the national level. I was a hockey player in my school in Dehradun (Uttarakhand).

I started playing football as a kind of rebellion against my hockey coach who was very controlling and never allowed me to play any other sport. I wanted to play other sports too, including cricket and athletics.

I also wanted to juggle a football, which was not possible with a hockey ball. Football is also a less dangerous and more convenient game than hockey. To play hockey you need to have a lot of equipment.

 Initially, when I started playing football, I aimed for 10 juggles at a stretch. Gradually I became very good at ball control and started practicing with boys. This happened when I moved to Delhi for my studies at St. Stephens College.

Initially, many of them thought I was a boy when they saw me practicing from a distance, because of my ball control. It was the boys in my college who encouraged me that I should start playing football professionally.

In the second year, they pushed me to go for the Delhi state trial. It was in 2009.  I went and got selected to play for Delhi, just like that. It may sound strange, but I had never played a real football match before I got selected to play for Delhi. I was 18 then.

I guess it was my experience as a hockey player that helped me see through the selection. It was similar in terms of positioning. I was also a good runner. So I think my overall athletic skills, along with endurance and fitness too must have impressed the selectors.

(Jyoti Ann Burret is a former Indian football player. She currently plays for Hans WFC. In conversation with Sangeeth Sebastian, writer and founder, Vvox, a sextech platform. The interview is a part of an AKADialog initiative to capture the lives of newsmakers.)